Andy Stead - Health & Fitness Trainer

31/08/2026

09/08/2026

A client told me this week about a strength achievement. It wasn’t about a new squat PB or a longer distance on her hill sprints. It wasn’t even really anything to do with “exercise”.

She’d shovelled some stones in her garden.

For me, that’s what it’s all about; empowering normal people to be able to do every stuff and live better lives. Simple.

12/07/2026

How good is this?

What an amazing community of people!

11/07/2026

1 down, 4 to go.

Great job by the Thurrock group. Over 80 over the finish line! Amazing feeling.

Could do with a sleep now myself!

What an amazing morning in Thurrock!

Over 80 people completing their 5k distance. Some for the very first time. Some with personal bests, and other just happy to get round in the scorching heat.

Everyone should be super proud. Great job Thurrock!

England AthleticsActive EssexImpulse Leisure - ThurrockThurrock CouncilFind Your Active Thurrock

07/07/2026

Such a buzz seeing these kids complete their 3k.

And a pleasure to give the opportunity to a new, young coach to get involved.

Onwards and upwards.

What an incredible effort these young people put in to the last 6 weeks!

50 school children from two different schools, 90% of which had never stepped foot on an athletics track before, coming to Basildon Sporting Village and completing a mini version of our programme culminating in a 3k fun run.

Our aims were clear:

• provide an opportunity to children who may not have had one otherwise
• build a positive relationship with running, athletics and activity in general
• show them that we care

Also as part of our funding from Essex County Council each child received a pair of trainers to use and take with them after the programme with the hope that they continue their new found enjoyment for exercise.

And we even had some parents and teachers joining in on the last lap!

England AthleticsActive EssexFind Your Active - BasildonEveryone Active - Sporting Champions

03/06/2026

The shock!

Something many in the fitness have known for years looks like it’s finally being recognised in the mainstream.

Great stuff.

Doing 90 minutes to two hours of weight training per week can greatly reduce the risk of an early death, according to new research. Read why: https://bbc.in/3RKL9Nw

17/05/2026

Very proud of how week 1 of Backside To Trackside CIC went, some amazing people and great coaching!

1 week down, 8 to go! 💪🏻

What an amazing first week of delivery!

Hundreds of people across 5 venues in two counties started their health and fitness journeys and were all introduced to their local tracks and asked “why” by their coach, challenging participants to think deeply about their motivations and what’s inspiring them to make the change.

Basildon Borough CouncilBasildon Sporting VillageFind Your Active - BasildonImpulse Leisure - ThurrockThurrock CouncilFind Your Active ThurrockFind Your Active - BrentwoodBrentwood Borough CouncilBrentwood School Sports CentreCastle Point Borough CouncilStevenage Arts & Leisure CentreNorth Herts & Stevenage Community OutreachActive EssexHerts Sport & Physical Activity PartnershipEngland Athletics

15/05/2026

As John Cena says “the time is now”.

There is never a right time to start, something will always be in the way, you may always be too busy, you may never feel motivated.

Don’t wait for the right time.

The TIME IS NOW.

10/05/2026

Blown away. Over 500 sign ups to my programme this spring.

Funny, someone said to me the other day “now the hard part starts”… as in the delivery. I mean yeah, it’s gonna be tough be it’s the bit I love.

The hard part was the work that has gone in to securing the funding, building the relationships with local authorities and leisure providers, building the reputation, hiring and training staff, and finally, pushing sign ups.

So yeah the next 9 weeks is gonna be challenging, but I cannot wait!

Let’s f***ing go!!!

We’ve hit 500 sign ups!!!

Could not be happier.

Now the fun part starts. See you trackside 💪🏻

09/05/2026

Potentially controversial post.

A client got injured this week. It doesn’t happen often, but it has happened before (I’ve delivered literally tens of thousands of sessions to tens of thousands of people, it’s inevitable) and, as much as I don’t want it to happen and put things in place to reduce the risks, it will probably happen again (not selling myself here am I).

But this wasn’t doing some massive lift, a weird exercise or something this person has never done before. And they were not moving badly at all, in fact, I was literally, at the time, saying how smooth and controlled the movement looked. Then BAM… a back twinge!

Luckily it wasn’t too bad. We immediately stopped, assessed, had a chat, done some very light stretching and then called the session sending them on their way with some movements that will hopefully help recovery. And, it seems like this won’t stop them moving or be a problem for too long. So that’s good.

Anyway here’s my point.

Perfect technique does not guard you from injury, and (here’s the controversial part) poor technique doesn’t mean you will get injured.

Now of course if you move well you’ll probably avoid injury most of the time and if you always move badly you may get injured more often, but in and of themselves “good” and “bad” techniques are not a guarantee.

I guess my message here is don’t avoid starting exercise because you are worried you aren’t doing it perfectly, as even if you are, there’s always a chance of something bad happening. “Why take the risk” I hear you say. Well, I’d much rather have a little injury that I can overcome fairly quickly due to the fact that I’m moving my body regularly than have lifelong debilitating pain due to the fact that I don’t move it at.

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” - said some guy once that has something to do with this platform. 😜